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Mission Statement

“The Joseph House is a resident-centered home and welcomes any terminally ill person enrolled in the hospice of their choice and with terminal illness – regardless of age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, national origin, social/economic status, or disability.”

The Facility Board and staff concur with local hospices, that any person has the right to choose palliative care verses therapeutic care.Therefore, the Facility is committed to providing safe, compassionate, residential care in a home setting with emphasis of palliative end of life care.

Special Care Facility

The Joseph House is both a service and philosophy. We provide comprehensive care to terminally ill residents, enrolled in the hospice of their choice, their families, and significant others, by helping them continue life as normally as possible during the end-of-life phase. The facility encompasses the physical, emotional, spiritual and social needs of the resident and is structured to care for residents and the members of their family like they were members of our own.

For example, we help the daughter who cannot always afford to take time off from work to care for an ailing parent; we help families who can provide the care, but the family and/or terminally ill person does not desire to die in the private home; we help the loving wife who desires to take care of her husband of many years, but her age and health prevent her from giving the care he needs; and last but not least, we help those, who for whatever reason, have no one to care for them.

The Joseph House is licensed as a Special Care Facility and receives no state or federal funding. Many Americans believe that Social Security or Medicare will pay for 24 hour care through placement in a nursing home or provide paid help in our homes, all of which is untrue, as we each are responsible for end of life care whether it be for our grandparents, parents or ourselves.

Death is final, unyielding, and humanly unconquered. The loneliness of the event can be overpowering to those who love us the most as they struggle to walk the lonely mile with us. It is a time when love, comfort and kindness seems to flee away to hide. The individual on this path is the person we serve. This special journey can be and should be with comfort, respect, and dignity to not just the dying person but to the family also. Dying is the last journey we will embark upon and it is a journey no one should walk alone.

Funding

The Joseph House relies completely on private funding for individuals who wish to achieve their simple goal of death with dignity. Their choice predicates a fixed “end of life” cost and ironically, insurers do not recognize the cost savings. Because The Joseph House does not provide direct medical care nor serve as a hospice the home is not reimbursed through standard Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance payment. The care costs are covered by donations and $125 per day fee paid by the resident and the family. Even though, these holistic care costs are greatly lower, unfortunately they are not covered by insurance and are privately burdensome. In many instances, the individual and family cannot bear the entire weight of that burden. And so it is, that we appeal to you, to aid these individuals and families in helping to find and fund a dignified end of life.

There is great need at the Joseph House. We cannot provide this valuable human service without your help. The dying are a very large and lonely group. We ask that you direct your vision to these very needy souls at the end of their lives. Survival of the hopefulness of death with dignity by choice rest on assistance of others, such as you, to ease the financial responsibilities that so often become a burden to the family

The Hospice Mixture

The Joseph House is neither a hospice nor a competitor of the hospice. The aim is to compliment hospice services by providing the caregiver who gives end of life 24 hour hands on care, which without may hinder or delay hospice admission. While maintaining medical oversight, the hospice will provide RN/LVN nurse, personal care aide, chaplain, social workers and volunteers related to their specific hospice patient just as they would in a personal home. The driving force behind the development of The Joseph House is to enhance the hospice concept and enable every patient throughout Lufkin, Angelina County and surrounding counties served by our local hospices to have access to this special type of care which was previously unavailable.

Hospice is considered to be the model for quality, compassionate care for people facing a life-limiting illness or injury. Hospice and palliative care involve a team-oriented approach to expert medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support expressly tailored to the person’s needs and wishes. Support is provided to the person’s loved ones as well.

The focus of hospice relies on the belief that each of us has the right to die pain-free and with dignity, and that our loved ones will receive the necessary support to allow us to do so.

Hospice focuses on caring, not curing, and in most cases care is provided in the person’s home.

Hospice care also is provided in freestanding hospice centers, hospitals, and nursing homes, other long-term care facilities, and Special Care Facilities such as The Joseph House.

Hospice services are available to patients of any age, religion, race, or illness.

Our service area will encompass Lufkin and Angelina County, including counties served by our local hospices. All are welcome to become a resident of The Joseph House.

Joseph of Arimethea

The Joseph House was inspired by biblical truths regarding the significant role of Joseph of Arimathea, one of the unsung heroes of the Bible. The Bible tells us that women stood such as the blessed Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Zebedee’s sons, and various other, unnamed women tended to and prayed for the dying Jesus upon the cross. There was only one man, Joseph of Arimethea, standing with them. The Apostles had all fled and were in hiding, fearful for their own lives. Joseph stood by the Blessed Mother and comforted her as she watched her son die. Joseph was a member of the Council, but had not agreed to the judgment for he was a believer and awaited the kingdom of God. It was Joseph who stood “in the gap” between the mockers and blasphemers to safeguard the expiring Jesus. Joseph helped comfort the grieving and reclaimed the body of Jesus from Pilate for burial in his own tomb. The Joseph House commemorates this comforter within its name. For it is in comforting that we are comforted. It is in dying that we are all born to new life.

Joseph’s conviction, courage, and commitment to Jesus and to the truth led him to “stand in the gap” when God needed him to do so. What he did made possible the striking witness of the empty tomb, which was a catalyst for many to believe in the resurrection of the Son of God. The Joseph House is a specialty care facility designed to “stand in the gap” between the unforgiving diagnosis that a patient is terminal and their “end of life” reality.